Doorlatch



Nov. 8, 1932. H. E. MUCHNEC DOORLATCH 2 Sheets-Sheet .1

Filed June 20, 1951 NOV. 8, 1932, uc c; 1,886,418

D OORLATGH Filed June 20. 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 8, 1932 PA T ENT FF'I CE HENRY E. MUCHNIC, OFATCHISON, KANSAS, ASSIGNOR- TO THELOCOMOTIVE FINISHED MATERIAL COMPANY, OF ATCHISON, KANSAS, .ACORPORATION OF KANSAS DOORLATCH Application filed June 20,

ing. the doors being held in full closed position, while at the sametime being of such construction that .full and quick release of thedoors may be obtained during movement of the latch mechanism towardunlatching position.

My inventionhas for its object the provision of door latching mechanism,which is particularly. adapted for latching the drop bottom doors,whereby great power or leverage is obtained in the closing operationwhich enables the closing operationto be performed by a single operatorwithout the need of employing other devices for accomplishing thelatching operation, as, however, is the case with door latching orfastening means at present in use on doors of the type mentioned; myimproved latch being so formed that'the pulling strains or load on thedoors will be exerted to one side of the pivotal point of the lever andthus constantly maintain the latch ing position of the mechanism.

The objects and advantages of my invention will be readily comprehendedfrom the following detailed description of the accompanying drawings,wherein:

Figure lis a plan view of a portion of a gondola car. illustrating anarrangement of the drop bottom doors and a portion of the latchmechanism secured at the free end of the door. 1

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the portion of car shown inFigure 1, illustrating the door in closed position with my improvedlatch in side elevation; an unlatching position being indicated indotted lines.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the latch'in latching position.

Figure 4 isa frontelevation thereof with portions broken away andshownin section.

Figure 5 is a side elevation of a modified form of my improved latch inlatching position, with a portion of the latching lever broken away andportions of the side wall and one end of a bottom door shown in section.

Figure 6 is a front elevation of the modified 1931. Serial No. 545,715.

form, with portions broken away and shown in=section. Y

My invention relates to latchesmore especially intended forindependently securing the various drop bottom doors of a gondola car inplace. That is to say, my invention relates to latch mechanism forfirmly securing the outer or free ends of the drop doors of a sidedumping type of car in closed position and therefore in Figures 1 and 21show portions of the bottom of a car with the door sec tions 10 hingedlysecured in any well known manner atthe ends disposed adjacent to thelongitudinal or car center sill indicatedat 11.

These doors, which may be of any desired construction, are showncomposed of reenforced-metal and each door substantially at itslongitudinal center line is provided with a pairof laterally disposedextensions or lugs 12,12 which may be integral with or suitably securedto the free ends of the doors.

These lugs are arranged in parallel spaced relationand each formed toprovide a socket fol-the reception of the oppositely disposedcnd'portions or trunnions 13, 13, of 'an'I-shape member or link 14, moreclearly shown in Figure 4. The lugs 12, 12 are preferably of malleablemetal so as to permit the free ends of the lugs to be bent back aroundthe trunnion portions 13 of the I-link 14. As shown in the drawings, theends of the lugs 12, 12 are intended to be disposed beyondthe verticalplane of thecar side wall, a. portion whereof is shown at 15.

The side wall 15 of the car, adjacent to the lower end thereof andlinvertical alignment with the link ll'ofeach door section, is providedwith a bracket 16 secured to the side wall. This bracket is providedwith a pair of laterally spaced socket providing portions 17. 17, whichinitially may be formed as shown in dotted lines in Figure 3. Theseportions 17, 17 are intended to provide suitable sockets for pivotallysecuring a lever 18 in place.

The lever 18 has its lower end bifurcated to provide the spaced apartlegs 19, 19;'and each leg 19 adjacent to its lower end andon its outerface is provided with a'laterally disposed trunnion 20, about which theouter free ends of the socket forminggportions 17 are standing lipportion at 22 (see Figure 3) and" the sockets 21 are preferably of depthso as to extend slightly rearward of the vertical plane of the pivotalpoint of the lever when the latter is in latching position.

The sockets 21 are intended to receive the upper or free and laterallydisposed portions 23, 23 of the I-link 1 The length of the link and therelation between the pivot points or trunnions 20, 20, the sockets 21and the lower end 13 of the link 14 are such that the doors will be infull closed position when the laterally disposed portions 23, 23 of thelink are seated in the lower ends of the sockets 21. As a result, theupper ends of the link cannot shift or move upwardly in the sockets andhence unlatching or releasing of the doors is impossible as long as thelevers 18 remain in upright position shown in Figure 3.

In order to permit the upper end of the lever to be more easily grasped,the rear side of the lever is preferably slightly curved, as shown, thuscausing the upper end to be held slightly away from the car side asshown.

It is apparent that when the lever is in proper position, the downwardpull of the link 14 on the lever 18 will be slightly rearward of thevertical plane of the pivotal point of the lever and therefore theweight of the door and its superposed load tends to hold the lever inlatching position.

In order to prevent accidental movement of the lever, I show the carside 15 provided with a link or ring 24, suitably secured to the carside so as to permit the link 24 to be slipped over the top of thelever, as shown; the upper end of the lever 18 being preferably curvedslightly outward to maintain the link v- 2& in place against accidentalshifting.

Releasing of the doors is quickly accomplished by swinging the upper endof the lever 18 away from the car side thereby permitting the upper endof the link 14 to slide out of socket 21, which allows the free ends ofthe doors to drop to full open position.

With the lower end of the lever 18 bifurcat'ed as shown, the body of thelink 14 will. be disposed between the bifurcations when in latchingposition, as shown in Figure 4. This construction permits the use of astraight link to be used.

In Figures 5 and 6, I show a modified form of latch. This constructioninvolves an attaching plate 25 adapted to be secured to the car sideadjacent to the bottom as shown in Figure 5; the plate being providedwith a pair of apertured lugs 26, 26, properly spaced apart laterally asshown in Figure 6.

The latching lever 27 is also bifurcated at its lower end to provide thespaced apart legs 28, 28, which, on their inner opposing sides and at adistance beneath the connecting web portion 29, are each provided with asomewhat arcuate lug 30. The lugs 30, 30 extend to ward each other butterminate on opposite sides of the vertical median line of the device soas to provide a suflicient space therebetween for reception of the bodyportion of the link member 31.

The upper surfaces of the lugs 30, 30 are preferably slightly dished, asshown in Figure 5, to provide seating pockets or sockets for thelaterally disposed upper end portions or head 32 of the link 31; thishead portion, like the head portions 23 of the link 14- in thepreviously described construction, being preferably rounded so as tomore readily slide into and out of their pockets or sockets in thelevers.

The lower ends of the bifurcations or legs 28, 28 of the lever27 areintended to straddle or be disposed to the outer sides of the lugs 26,26 of the attaching plate; and these ends of the legs 28, 28 areapertured to receive the hinge-pin 33, which extends through the legs 28and the lugs 26, see Figure 6, whereby the lever 27 is pivotally securedto the attaching plate 25; the pin 33 being shown provided with a headat one end while the other end may be provided with a suitablecotter-pin, as at 34.

The link 31 is pivotally secured at 35' to suitable spaced lugs likethat shown at 12 in Figure 1 extending beyond the free end of the dropbottom door 10. The link 31 in this construction is shown curved, asmore clearly shown in Figure 5, so as to extend about or clear thehinge-pin 33 and permit the head of the link to be disposed above thehinge-pin and properly seat in the sockets of the lugs 30, 30, when thelever 27 is in upright latching position. 7

The lever 27 is also shown with a slight outward curve at its upper freeend to receive and retain the link 24:, secured to the car side 15, soas to prevent accidental movement of the lever.

Like in the previously described construction, the head portion 32 ofthe link 31 will be disposed slightly inward of the vertical axis of thehinge-pin 33, with the result that the weight or downward pull of thedoor tends to maintain the lever in the latching position shown inFigure 5. r

I have illustrated my improved door latch as especially adapted to dropbottom doors with the link member secured to the movable element or doorwhile the lever is secured to the non-moving element or wall, but it isapparent that the latch is equally as well adapted to different types ofdoors and that the relation of the members of the latch relative to themoving and non-moving elements may be altered; the invention, forpurposes of exemplification, having been described in terms employedmerely for the purpose of description, as modifications are possible andmay be made without, however, departing from the spirit of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. A door latch of the character described comprising a link adapted tobe pivotally secured in place, and a pivotally mounted lever providedwith a socketed portion removed from the pivot point and open at theouter side of the lever and adapted to receive the free end of saidlink, the relation between the fulcrum point of the lever and the endsof the link being such that the pivoted and socketseated ends of thelink will be disposed in a plane on the same side of the fulcrum pointof the lever and disposed between said fulcrum point of the lever andthe car sidewall.

2. A drop bottom car door latch comprising a link pivotally secured atits lower end to the free end of the door, and a lever pivoted at itslower end to the car side wall, said lever intermediate of its endshaving a socket open on the outer side of the lever and adapted toreceive the free end of said link with the link receiving socket and thepivoted end of the link so related to the pivotal point of the leverthat the pull of the link will be rearward of the pivotal point of thelever when the lever is in latching position.

3. A door latch of the character described comprising, in combinationwith a clownwardly swinging door, a link pivotally secured to the doorso as to swing vertically and provided at its free end with laterallydisposed portions, and a lever bifurcated at its lower end to receivethe upper end of the link therebetween, the lower ends of thebifurcations being pivotally mounted to permit the lever to swingvertically, the bifurcations intermediate of their ends having socketsopen toward one side of the lever and extending rearward of the verticalplane of the pivotal point of the lever when the latter is in latchingposition, said sockets being adapted to receive the laterally disposedportions of the link, the relation between the fulcrum point of thelever and the ends of the link being such that the pivoted andsocket-seated ends of the link will be disposed in a plane on the sameside of the fulcrum point of the lever and disposed between said fulcrumpoint of the lever and the car side wall.

4. A door latch comprising, in combination with a downwardly swingingdoor and a car side-wall, an I-shape link pivotally secured at one endto the downwardly swingface with spaced apart socket-forming pori tionsadapted to receive said trunnions and permit the lever to swingvertically, the relation between the fulcrum point of the lever and theends of the link being such that the pivoted and socket-seated ends ofthe link will be disposed in a plane on the same side of the fulcrumpoint of the lever and disposed between said fulcrum point of the leverand the car side wall.

5. A door latch comprising, in combination with a car side wall anddownwardly swinging doors, the free ends of the doors having lugsextending beyond the free ends of the doors, links pivotally secured atone of the ends to said door lugs so as to swing vertically beyond theside wall of the car, a bifurcated lever for each door, the lower endsof the bifurcations each having a trunnion on the outer side thereof andeach bifurcation above the trunnion having a socket transversely of thebifurcation and open at one side of the lever adapted to receive theupper end of a link, a plate adapted to be secured to the car side walland provided on its outer face with spaced apart bendable socket formingportions adapted to receive the trunnions of a lever, and thereby holdthe fulcrumed end of the lever away from the car side wall, the relationbetween the fulcrum point of the lever and the ends of the link beingsuch that the pivoted and socket-seated ends of the link will bedisposed in a plane on the same side of the fulcrum point of the leverand disposed between said fulcrum point of the lever and the car sidewall.

HENRY E. MUOHNIC.

